Barisal win a stunner on Emrit

Unbeaten 54 from 28 balls from the bat of Rayad Emrit gave Barisal Bulls a two-wicket win over Dhaka Dynamites in the 30th match of BPL-2015 at Mirpur tonight.

Rayad Emrit came out to bat in the 13th over after Barisal had lost six wickets and looking down and out and played an amazing unbeaten knock to pip Dhaka in the end.

Emrit smashed six four and two towering sixes to bring down the required run-rate which was going out of hand.

The West Indian began his assault in the 16th over when he took 13 runs. 14 runs came from the next over. Nine runs were scored from the 18th. Ten came from the 19th and the equation came down to ten from the last six balls.

Emrit hammered two fours and sent his teammates into a euphoric celebration.

Mosharraf of Dhaka picked up his second wicket of the night when Mehedi Maruf of Barisal was stumped for 37.

Mehedi was the lone warrior from the Barisal camp, and played 41 balls in his knock. He smashed three fours and two sixes during his stay at the crease.

His departure signaled the inevitable for Barisal.

Wickets kept tumbling for Barisal, and the match went out of their grasp for good

Sohag Gazi lasted four balls, skied a ball from Nasir to Hafeez and mid-off and left the field shaking his head in disappointment. His deaparture in the 12 th over was the final nail in Bulls’ coffin for tonight.

Sabbir Rahman was trapped in front by Dhaka’s Mosharraf Hossain for only four runs. The batter got beaten for pace and the umpire made a good call on the vociferous appeal.

Barisal were staring down the barrel by now.

Evin Lewis went in the ninth over when he was beaten in the flight by Mosaddek Hossain and ended up giving a relatively easy catch to Waller at long-off.

Barisal Bulls’ chase was disrupted early when they lost three quick wickets within the sixth over, with Dhaka Dynamites calling all the shots.

Bulls skipper Mahmudullah poked and prodded for ten balls, managed just a single run and was sent back to the pavilion by Nabil Samad in the sixth over.

Brendan Taylor only lasted five balls, and was trapped in front by Dhaka’s Nabil in the fourth over of the chase. The batsman tried to sweep but was struck plumb in front.

Mohammad Irfan of Pakistan gave Dhaka their first breakthrough when Rony Talukdar got an edge back to the keeper. Rony didn’t use his feet, went for an expansive drive and lost his wicket.

Earlier, Dhaka Dynamites managed to score 136 for six in 20 overs against Barisal Bulls under lights after struggling early in the game.

Mosaddek Hossain was the highest scorer for Dhaka with 30 from 31 balls with a four and six punctuating his unbeaten knock.

Most of the Dhaka batters got a start but failed to convert it to something substantial. They got themselves out at the worst possible time to hurt their team’s chances of a challenging total.

Nikhil Dutta was the star bowler from the Barisal camp. He demolished Dhaka’s top-order with three wickets for 18 runs in four overs.

Rayad Emrit took two while Sohag Gazi grabbed a wicket in their spells.

Shykat Ali was the last man to be dismissed for Dhaka. He was bowled by Emrit for 13 runs in the last over.

Ryan Deoschate tried to get going but found the pitch not assisting stroke-play. He scored 22 from 23 balls before he was dismissed in the 18th over by Emrit.

Barisal were firmly in the driver’s seat after the half-way mark in this match, primarily due to the brilliant spell of bowling from Nikhil Dutta.

Nikhil bowled three overs for 14 runs but took three crucial wickets to throw the spanner in Dhaka’s works.

In the 11th over, Nasir Hossain gave his wicket to the Barisal spinner Nikhil after scoring 14 runs. Nasir went across the line and smashed his shot straight to Suhrawardi Shuvo at deep midwicket.

Nikhil got his second wicket of the match when Malcolm Waller of Dhaka was bowled for 10. Waller cleared his front leg, heaved across the line, missed the ball and saw his furniture disturbed.

Barisal’s young recruit Nikhil Dutta of Canada sent Dhaka sliding in the seventh over when Mohammad Hafeez spooned a dolly to Mahmudullah at cover.

Hafeez scored 25 from 27 balls with four fours to his name. Dhaka can ill afford losing wickets in clusters at the top.

Farhad Reza lost his cool in the sixth over, played one big shot too many against Sohag Gazi and paid the price.

He was clean bowled by Gazi for 19 runs. Farhad faced 10 balls and struck two fours.

Dhaka Dynamites openers Mohammad Hafeez and Farhad Reza were hardly troubled by the Barisal bowlers.

Both of them got their eye in and began to take on the bowlers with the fielding restrictions still in place.

Barisal skipper Mahmudullah won the toss and opted to field first against Dhaka Dynamites led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Barisal Bulls celebrate the fall of wicket during BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR

Barisal Bulls have won their last match on December 9 against Chittagong on Gayle’s bashing, but their batting line-up has the queer tendency to collapse in a heap under scoreboard pressure.

The match where Barisal lost to Rangpur on December 7 was mainly due to the failures of their batsmen.

Dhaka have lost too many matches for their liking, especially as they near the business end of BPL. On December 9, they were beaten by Sylhet. The six-wicket loss exposed their batting frailties once again.

Dhaka captain Kumar Sangakkara would want more consistent performance from the batsmen, knowing all too well that lower-order heroics won’t save the day every match.

The last match, 30th of the group-stage of BPL-2015 finds Barisal Bulls and Dhaka Dynamites lock horns at Mirpur stadium.

Barisal are placed third while Dhaka fourth in the points table, and if things remain the same, they will join Comilla and Rangpur as the top-four teams to qualify for the eliminators.

Barisal Bulls

Al-Amin Hossain, KK Cooper, RR Emrit, CH Gayle, E Lewis, Mahmudullah (Captain), Mehedi Maruf, Mohammad Sami, Nadif Chowdhury, S Prasanna, Rony Talukdar (Wicketkeeper), Sabbir Rahman, Sajedul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Sharifullah, Sohag Gazi, Taijul Islam, BRM Taylor

Dhaka Dynamites

Abul Hasan, Farhad Reza, Irfan Sukkur, Mohammad Hafeez, Mosaddek Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Nabil Samad, Nasir Hossain, Nasir Jamshed, KC Sangakkara (Captain, Wicketkeeper), Shadman Islam, Shykat Ali, Sohail Khan, RN ten Doeschate, HDRL Thirimanne, MN Waller, Yasir Shah

Dhaka Dynamites batsmen take a run during BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR